initial unexpected spending in ER

[dirt_dobber]

Here I am a month and a half into this and I am slightly amazed at how much money I am spending.
A lot of this is due to having time now and the home projects I put off for a few years.
I have had the following expenses pop up...
Carpet professionally cleaned $160
Ammo buys off $175 - more time at the shooting range now ;-)
Movies $125 – never had the time before
Dime store purchases for grandkids $150 (candy, milk shakes, small toys etc.)
A few small weekend getaway trips $400
Various hardware store trips for paint etc. $300
Eating lunch out at fancy places $120 (after decades of brown bagging it)
New 32 inch computer monitor $400 (got spoiled at the ones I used at work)
And a host of new additional purchases.

I am sure this type of extra spending is going to slow down a lot soon but I did not expect this initial spurt of cash going out.
I was just wondering what others found in the first year of ER.

 

[Senator]

Ammo buys off $175 - more time at the shooting range now ;-)

This should have always been in your budget, and not an extra expense. The grand kids can wait on their toys until next month...

“I spent half my money on gambling, alcohol and wild women. The other half I wasted.” W.C Fields

 

[NW-Bound]

Well, looking at your list I did not see an RV, or a boat, a motorcycle, a new car, cruise to Tahiti... You are underspending.

 

[harley]

We built our dream house the year after I FIRE'd. Your spending is spillage compared to what DW was capable of.

 

[rodi]

I budgeted (and set aside from the nest egg) my *planned* first year expenditures. We're remodeling our master bath and we took a 9 week trip to Europe with the kids this past summer. I went about $5k overbudget on the Europe trip... but saved money in other areas so my total spending is right on track.

 

[Rosie]

Movies $125 – never had the time before

Lookit the bright side, you now have the time to go to bargain matinees, and to seek out other deals at cinemas. That's what DH & I are doing now.

 

[Meadbh]

You need a budget.

 

[rodi]

Lookit the bright side, you now have the time to go to bargain matinees, and to seek out other deals at cinemas. That's what DH & I are doing now.

Matinee prices are still almost $10.... I'm still in sticker shock over that.

I think I'll price discount movie tickets at Costco when I go today.

 

[dirt_dobber]

You need a budget.

Yes - thanks!
A budy of mine on this forum sent me a nice xls spreadsheet template to modify for our needs.

 

[doneat54]

I worry about this too, and am about 13 months away from ER. One of my tests is if I take a week off and just hang out at home, do I spend more? I don't. I have a shop, an antique car hobby and keep myself busy. I am not a TV/movie watcher. My wife and I do love to travel and dine out though and will account for that in our budget. I am also buying a travel trailer next year so I can do "cheap trips" to nearby states (did a 6 week , 9500 family RV trip in '06 and loved it).

 

[aja8888]

Matinee prices are still almost $10.... I'm still in sticker shock over that.

$6 around here, but the popcorn and soft drink is $11.

 

[Rosie]

A theater in my new hometown -- a nice new theater, I might add -- charges $5 on Tuesdays for most movies. The only exceptions are for opening days and holidays. 3D movies cost $2 more, but we don't care much for 3D.

Back when we lived in the SF Bay area, we used to donate blood quite often at the Stanford Blood Center. When we donated on Mondays we'd get free AMC Theater movie passes. Over time we accumulated a very large stack of those passes, and we barely made a dent in them before we moved away from the Bay Area. Alas, there are no AMC theaters near where we live now, so we gave away a lot of passes to friends we left behind.


I'm just telling you this to point out that you now have the free time to hunt up bargains, if'n you're so inclined.

 

[Whisper66]

Our first year of retirement will be higher than our initial budget (a number based on past spending). One thing that has helped us is to identify two different budget numbers.

The first is what we EXPECT to spend based on an analysis of our last 5 yrs of spending adjusted for expenses that we won't see in retirement (income tax, social security tax, etc...). I expect we'll exceed this number by 5-20% during this, our first year of retirement.

The second number is the maximum yearly expense our savings can sustain. We use I-orp to calculate this number. Turns out it's about ~60% higher than the first number in our case.

If our yearly expenses are less than the lower number, we just keep on trucking. If it higher than the upper number, we will consider some adjustments in our spending patterns. In between the two numbers, we use judgement on what, if anything, we need to do.

Hope this helps.

 

[Bir48die]

What I did was make a budget with a lot of fluff. The buckets have more in them than needed. So, if I get a little carried away I can move money around.

However, when you do have more time then there is a tempation to spend lots of that time buying things. We are a consumer society. But at some point you just do the Dave Ramsey "wants versus needs" thought process and it all works out. As most have said the first year is when most of us get carried away a bit then adjust.

 

[robnplunder]

Here I am a month and a half into this and I am slightly amazed at how much money I am spending.
A lot of this is due to having time now and the home projects I put off for a few years.
I have had the following expenses pop up...
Carpet professionally cleaned $160
Ammo buys off $175 - more time at the shooting range now ;-)
Movies $125 – never had the time before
Dime store purchases for grandkids $150 (candy, milk shakes, small toys etc.)
A few small weekend getaway trips $400
Various hardware store trips for paint etc. $300
Eating lunch out at fancy places $120 (after decades of brown bagging it)
New 32 inch computer monitor $400 (got spoiled at the ones I used at work)
And a host of new additional purchases.

I am sure this type of extra spending is going to slow down a lot soon but I did not expect this initial spurt of cash going out.
I was just wondering what others found in the first year of ER.

Leading up to ER at the end of this year, I've splurged a little to get the spending out of my system. But I suspect, my spending may tick up a bit for "projects" I need to do with more time on hand. But I have "misc" budget category which should take care of most of the non-regular spending items.

 

[Beldar]

I am sure this type of extra spending is going to slow down a lot soon but I did not expect this initial spurt of cash going out.
I was just wondering what others found in the first year of ER.

6 months in and our projected average monthly expenses are about what we had estimated. It seems a lot of the savings produced by having no w*rk related expenses are being offset by more casual grocery trips during the week. And we've had some significant vet expenses as our dog is dying.

But no big blips yet, although it really is too short of a sample period to come to any conclusions.

_B

 

[dirt_dobber]

It seems a lot of the savings produced by having no w*rk related expenses are being offset by more casual grocery trips during the week.
_B

This is what i am talking about - I assumed that the savings expected in work related expenses would offset some of the items I mention.

The one expense/perk I have been enjoying is eating a nicer lunch now in ER than 38 years of brown bagging it.

Seriously sorry about your dog.

 

[pb4uski]

....Movies $125 – never had the time before...

Check into matinees, and/or senior discount or discount nights. Also, DD buys Regal Cinema movie passes for $8.99 each from AAA if you are a AAA member.

We feel lucky... senior rate is $4.

 

[Car-Guy]

Ammo buys off $175 - more time at the shooting range now ;-)

Have you ever thought of reloading your own ammo and shooting more for less money. (And with better loads) YMMV

 

[Meadbh]

The one expense/perk I have been enjoying is eating a nicer lunch now in ER than 38 years of brown bagging it.

It's all right to celebrate ER in the short term. You say you have been lunching in "fancy places". Try to get into the habit of eating a healthy lunch at home. Improve your cooking skills now that you have the time. Eat out occasionally to meet your friends, and make it lunch rather than dinner. Watch movies on Netflix and at second run cinemas.

When you allocate your budget, keep it simple. For example, I have a category called "Entertainment", which includes all restaurant meals and event tickets. That way, if I spend a few hundred dollars on season tickets to the symphony, I can cut back on something else and I know it will all balance out in the end.

 

[robnplunder]

This is what i am talking about - I assumed that the savings expected in work related expenses would offset some of the items I mention.

I didn't assume the same. If anything, I budgeted more b/c I expect I have more time to do things (yard work, e.g) which need $$$. What I have done is to cut my home expense down - refinance to lower mortgage, replace Dishnetwork with Netflix, redo DW's smartphone contract to lower cost, etc..

Things I expect to spend more money on are traveling (gas), yard work - abandoned during work years, and spur of the moment spending.

 

[athena53]

I don't think DH and I changed our spending much after I retired (he was already retired). We'd always traveled, rarely went out to dinner (unless traveling) and have never attended a movie together. We discovered RedBox just last month. We LOVE RedBox! Our only grandchild was born just before I retired (April, 2014) and, other than putting money in the 529 account and bringing up a case of diapers from Costco when we come to visit, we don't spend much on her.

The big shock for us was downsizing. We spent more than expected fixing up the old place for sale (and still had prospective buyers whine that the wall colors and light fixtures were "dated"). The smaller houses cost more than expected compared to the one we sold. Costs of fixes to our new home that we knew we wanted to do from the start (replacing some windows with failed seals and enclosing the back porch) cost far more than we expected based on costs we'd seen a few years ago plus some inflation. To add insult to injury, within a month of moving in our backflow valve failed the required city inspection and cost $2K to replace and when we had the furnace checked out before the heating season started it turned out to be emitting unacceptable levels of ozone. It was 20 years old, which we knew, but we'd hoped that we'd have a year or two. No- we replaced that, too.

I can't complain too much. We love the house and we had the cushion to absorb the unexpected shocks- but 2015 turned out to be an expensive year!

 

[utrecht]

I don't think DH and I changed our spending much after I retired (he was already retired). We'd always traveled, rarely went out to dinner (unless traveling) and have never attended a movie together. We discovered RedBox just last month. We LOVE RedBox! Our only grandchild was born just before I retired (April, 2014) and, other than putting money in the 529 account and bringing up a case of diapers from Costco when we come to visit, we don't spend much on her.

The big shock for us was downsizing. We spent more than expected fixing up the old place for sale (and still had prospective buyers whine that the wall colors and light fixtures were "dated"). The smaller houses cost more than expected compared to the one we sold. Costs of fixes to our new home that we knew we wanted to do from the start (replacing some windows with failed seals and enclosing the back porch) cost far more than we expected based on costs we'd seen a few years ago plus some inflation. To add insult to injury, within a month of moving in our backflow valve failed the required city inspection and cost $2K to replace and when we had the furnace checked out before the heating season started it turned out to be emitting unacceptable levels of ozone. It was 20 years old, which we knew, but we'd hoped that we'd have a year or two. No- we replaced that, too.

I can't complain too much. We love the house and we had the cushion to absorb the unexpected shocks- but 2015 turned out to be an expensive year!

You just discovered RedBox? Wow!

 

[athena53]

You just discovered RedBox? Wow!

Yeah, I know. We're creatures of habit. So few of the movies coming out interest us that I didn't think we'd find anything we'd like, but there are a lot of good ones, and $1.50 plus tax isn't a bad price if it's a dud.

 

[W2R]

Here I am a month and a half into this and I am slightly amazed at how much money I am spending.

Can you cut back somewhere else, maybe? Like say, cut the cable, or drop your landline phone? I am saving almost $150/month by cutting my cable TV and landline phone, and that funds some of my favorite recreational expenses, like video gaming.